frontier gander

As some of you know, i took some material off the insides of the barrel channel on my x-150 and the took 3 pieces of bearing shim to float the barrel, i just got done shooting 5 shots with it at 25 yards, First bullet used were 3 shots with TC maxi ball and 90 grains pyrodex RS, first shot was 4" high and just a tad to the right, 2nd shot hit the orange circle, 3ed shot clipped just right above the second shot, Went and loaded 385 grain great plains bullets with 90 grains pyrodex rs, Made snake eyes out of those 2 shots with the great plains bullets and maybe an inch high above the bulls eye. This is only 25 yards but i can tell you this, I never shot this kind of group with this rifle in the 4 years ive owned it. I cant wait to pull out to 50 and 100 yards. I just cleaned the barrel out now, 2 patchs soaked in Kaboom and 3 dry patchs to clean it out totally. primers i was using were remington kleen bore, also a first time in this rifle. Im going back out to shoot a few more shots and i'll have some pics for you guys. I think you guys floating your Apex's are gonna crap your pants once its done and you start shooting! i love those maxi balls too, freakin easy to load. Hate the bore butter but hey, they hardly pound my shoulder which means i may beable to go back to my standard 120 grain pyro rs load! Freakin awesome day!

frontier gander

Okay first target is my first outing with the 350 maxi's and 385 great plains. Second target is 350 maxi's only. As usual, 4" high on first shot and then they all drop into place once the second shot goes off. 4 shots total on the second target. Im very happy with the its turning out. My front sight i noticed while cleaning is loose again and tipped to the right so thats no big deal now, i have new sights coming. Cant wait to see what it will really do with the new sights! I may just blow off those 385's tomorrow seeing how i hate loading them. The 2 shots touching towards the orange dot are the second and third 350gn maxi, The 2 above it are 2 of the great plains bullets. Front and rear lug screws were still snug and didnt come loose. Phil, i wasnt able to do the ramrod test due to me running out of time but i will do that for you tomorrow and see if it makes a difference with it out.
So it was very good day today.

Pglasgow

I envy you frontier, I drove out to check on the range, still locked out. And the next system is already barrelling down on us. Until things dry out, I aint gonna get to go shooting. I'll be workin on the Apex stock tonight. Hope to finish this weekend.

Were you shooting 50 yards? Nice groups. Keep us posted.

frontier gander

25 yards, i wanted to shoot 50 today but my brother got kicked in the hip by one of our horses so i went and loaded up hay close to their pens incase its another bad snow storm. I may do some 50 yard shooting tomorrow but with this front sight being the way it is, im not sure yet. I like my hunting range, im about 20 feet from the back deck . Got a nice fence line to shoot off of. The kleenbore primers were also nice! And with help from sabotloader, showing me how to wrap the breechplug in tape, the breechplug came out smoothly this time. And again, it only took me 2 patchs to clean the barrel out. Of course i then went and used my bore brush and scrubbed and scrubbed then it only took 2 more patchs and i was done. Soaked the breechplug in Kaboom and it came out clean. That stuff works nicely.

cayugad

nice shooting Frontier Gander. It sounds like all is well with the rifle. That's an impressive group you have there.

Pglasgow

I think its fair to say that you are stoked! Great groups. Bettergrab the buffalo robe, there is a storm brewing.

oldrookie

I am a newbie to muzzleloading. What is barrel floating? I have a CVA Optima.

frontier gander

Oh i am stoked over this. This is off to a great start, Things can only get better once i put my new sights on lol. These cheapies lasted a good 2 years but are now coming off. Im already loaded for tomorrow, 5 speed loaders, loaded with the 350gn maxi hunters and 90 grains pyro rs. But this time im going to try my old CCI 209's and see if there is a difference with the groups. Only have 8 of the maxi hunters left so i need to save those 8 for the new sights when they come in. Got lots of great plains bullets left for blowing off.

As for the other guys question about floating the barrel, Can one of you other guys answer? All i really did was take off paint/material that was touching my barrel and then lifted it with those brass shims i cut. Im sure someone can give him a better detailed idea.

Pglasgow

Floating is having space between the barrel and stock from at least the front lug to the muzzle. If your barrel beds the stock, the POI can change as the barrel heats up. Pressure from the stock distorts the barrel. This can happen because the barrel contracts and expands as its temperature changes. So as temperature rises, the forces of the stock bedding increase. Floating allows the barrel to expand as it heats with out so much if any bore line distortion because it isn't touching the stock.

I don't know how or if any benefit can be achieved from this principle with a break action rifle. So I can't make suggestions for your Optima.

frontier gander

I just got done firing 8 shots today. all of them were 350 gn maxihunters at 50yards. first shot again, 4" high, 2second and 3ed shot were touching and bulls eyes. 4th and 5th shot were spread out a good 2 1/2". I think if i use these bullets i will need to go with a dirty bore and know my second and third shot will be the best. Those shots were with cci shotgun primers. i loaded up my speed loaders again and took 3 shots with remington kleenbore primers, first shot, 4" high, second shot was inch high of bulls eye, third shot was 1" to the right of the second shot. I also noticed that once i started using the kleenbore primers, i could hear the primer itself go off before the rifle and the fouling on my bolt was horrible after 2 shots. Orange sparks were also flying out when the primer went off. I just cleaned the rifle out after those 8 shots and reloaded 3 speedloaders and am just taking a break to look things over. Im going back out with kleenbore primers on a fresh barrel to see what it does this time. I may just allow myself to forfit some accuracy and go with the really clean cci primers. Those 5 shots with the cci's only left a light blue color film on my bolt while the kleenbores turned it pure black. So we shall see this time what goes on with the kleenbores. Beautiful day tho! 25 degrees, zero wind. Great day for shooting!